Eideard

Software market research firm Flurry Analytics has posted some interesting information about where Apple’s iPhone stands in regards to the gaming market at large. The report also includes details about how the iPhone is stacking up in the mobile market against its two major rivals, the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP.

In 2008, Apple’s iPhone OS accounted for only one percent of the overall gaming market, compared to 20 percent for other portable games, and 79 percent for console. 2009 saw a definite swing towards portable gaming overall, with Apple alone reaping about half of the benefit of that shift…

Zooming in on how the iPhone is doing relative to its two strongest competitors in portable gaming, the Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable, we see an even more dramatic picture of tremendous growth. Where the iPhone accounted for only five percent of the revenue share of the three platforms in 2008, in 2009 it took 19 percent. That means that it surpassed the PSP, which fell from 20 percent to 11 percent market share year over year. The DS stayed strong at 70 percent in 2009, but that still represents a fall of 5 percentage points from 2008.

I don’t own an iPhone and seriously avoid gaming. I have a nice balance of free time, a life outdoors, time to spend wandering the cyberworld. Gaming could really screw that up for me.

But, it is an interesting article for a couple of reasons – including Etherington’s thoughts on Apple’s more frequent hardware refreshes being an advantage over time.

As video game giants like Sony and Microsoft touted their new gizmos at the Tokyo Game Show this week, industry executives had more than the coming holiday sales season on their minds.

Apple’s recent foray into video games — with the iPhone, the iPod Touch and its ever-expanding online App Store — is causing as much hand-wringing among old industry players as the global economic slump, which threatens to take the steam out of year-end shopping for the second consecutive year.

Among the questions voiced by video game executives: How can Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft keep consumers hooked on game-only consoles, like the Wii or even the PlayStation Portable, when Apple offers games on popular, everyday devices that double as cellphones and music players?

And how can game developers and the makers of big consoles persuade consumers to buy the latest shoot’em-ups for $30 or more, when Apple’s App store is full of games, created by developers around the world and approved by Apple, that cost as little as 99 cents — or even are free…?

The concerns highlight an accelerating shift away from hard-core games, which have traditionally driven console sales, to more casual ones played on cellphones. Of the 758 new game titles shown at the Tokyo Game Show, 168 were for cellphone platforms — more than twice as many as in the previous year.

Apple did not participate in the Tokyo Game Show, which ends Sunday. But the company introduced a beefed-up version of the iPod Touch this month, explicitly comparing it as a gaming platform with the Nintendo DS and Sony PlayStation Portable.

I don’t know from gaming; but, I know a tad about marketing and design. At this point in time, I’d rather own Apple shares than Sony.

Apple has scooped up a chip designer who spent years mapping out key graphics chip architectures at ATI and who also played an integral role in the development of the graphics processor found at the heart of Nintendo’s Game Cube console.

The LinkedIn profile of Bob Drebin indicates the former AMD graphics chief recently accepted a Senior Director position at Apple following a one-year void in his professional career. Although his precise role at the electronics maker is unknown, Drebin is likely to deliver knowledge and experience central to the company’s Mac and iPhone strategy.

Prior to joining Apple, Drebin was chief technology officer of the Graphics Products Group within AMD , where he oversaw the technical strategy and direction for the chipmaker’s graphics-related businesses. He assumed the role in 2006, following AMD’s acquisition of ATI, where he was also a director of chip design and strategy.

Earlier in his career, Drebin managed the architecture and design unit of ArtX, which was instrumental in development of the graphics component for the Nintendo Game Cube. He also spent nine years developing high-performance graphics systems for Silicon Graphic.

We’ve already seen how quickly the iPod Touch has moved into a gamer’s choice – especially for a gamer who wants a larger media life to carry around. This is the focus of most commentary an this hire. I think there’s another aspect.

The Nintendo Game Cube like any console was aimed at an audience using a TV set – not a computer monitor. There are tricks and tweaks that better suit that HDTV in your living room that don’t have to be limited to gaming. The myth or rumor of an Apple TV Set comes to mind.

Daylife/Reuters Pictures

GameStop, the leading boutique video game retailer in the U.S., finally has enough supply of Nintendo Wii consoles on store shelves to satisfy consumers who want to simply walk in the store and pick one up. In an interview with Gamastura, GameStop Senior Vice President of Merchandising Bob McKenzie told the publication that his company waited almost three years for this to happen.

“Three years later, we finally have enough inventory on the shelf, and we’ve got a couple of weeks in supply,” he told Gamasutra.

Wow. No longer do potential buyers need to wait in line, call GameStop to find out if Wiis are available, or search elsewhere for a stray console. The Wii is just available.

Remember when the Wii was first announced? It was April 2006. Everyone was expecting Nintendo’s secret new console to be called
Revolution. And then, in what would become a joke for months, Nintendo announced that its new console would be called “Wii.”

Nintendo listened to the jokes about the name, and probably expected them, but kept pressing on until the console was shown to journalists and gamers–who became believers.

And that was the first step in Nintendo’s dominance over this generation.

Unless you’ve been living in the basement with your Playstation or XBox for the last three years, now you know – Nintendo is back in a big way.

Celebrating a strike!

Among video game manufacturers, Nintendo has arguably done the most to recruit older gamers. Its Wii system is a minor hit in retirement homes, and Brain Age, a program for the company’s DS system, is marketed in part to graying users worried about losing their mental sharpness.

A recent report from Packaged Facts, a market research firm, suggests that this strategy has paid off: almost twice as many older gamers use Nintendo systems as use PlayStation, the runner-up.

The report also found that women were more prevalent than men among older video gamers. They make up 46 percent of 18-to-24-year-old gamers, but 55 percent of those 65 and older.

You didn’t catch me, yet. But, if I was up for gaming, it probably would be Nintendo.

Discount retailer Wal-Mart on Monday announced that it has started to sell “tens of thousands” of Nintendo’s Wii gaming console online.

The 2-year-old gadget, consistently sold out and difficult to obtain, emerged as one of Black Friday’s big hits amid a bleak economy.

On Friday night, the Wii was sold out on Wal-Mart’s Web site as well as the Web sites of electronics retailers Best Buy and Circuit City, Reuters reported. This morning, Monday morning, they’re in stock.

Whoo-hoo!

Parents are being warned about fake imported Nintendo games consoles which could be a fire hazard and pose a danger to their children’s safety.

HM Revenue & Customs said it had seized hundreds of counterfeit Nintendo DS and DS Lites, which were discovered to contain dangerous power adapters.

Nintendo confirmed it had not produced the potentially dangerous adaptors.

Many had been bought for £40 instead of the usual £100 retail price.

“You might find you plug it in and the adaptor sets on fire or the wires start to melt and stick out,” she warned.

Everyone loves a bargain – no matter how stupid.

Nintendo held a media summit here in San Francisco and while the biggest buzz was centered around holiday games and the upcoming DSi, I’m way more excited by the announcement that a Wii Speak Channel will launch this November. I’m calling it “Skype for the living room.”

The Wii Speak peripheral, a multidirectional “community microphone” with a reception radius of up to 12 feet, was mentioned this summer, but only in relation to the upcoming online game Animal Crossing: City Folk. Now Nintendo tells us they’re also going to sell Wii Speak separately, and that it’ll come with its own non-game Wii Channel, where you can communicate simultaneously with up to three other Wii owners. (Assuming they also have Wii Speak, and you’ve all exchanged friend codes.) You’ll also be able to use the channel to leave voice mails and exchange image files.

The reason I’ve dubbed the Wii Speak Channel Skype for the living room, however, is because it’s a VoIP communication device that doesn’t depend on a computer or a headset mic. If it works as billed, it could be used not only to make free person-to-person calls, but to hold conversations between entire rooms full of people. Of course the Nintendo exec who briefed me kept emphasizing the gameplay possibilities, and those are nice. But considering the tens of millions of people around the world, from every walk of life, who already own the Wii (it’s forecast to be in 30 percent of all American homes by 2011), the Wii Speak Channel has the potential to become a popular communication alternative over the next decade.

As Wagner notes, at a minimum it will be the world’s largest speakerphone – just for Wii owners.

Daylife/AP Photo by Katsumi Kasahara

Japanese games giant Nintendo is launching a new-look version of its popular DS handheld games console.

The console, called the Nintendo DSi, can be used to take photos, download games and play music. The DSi will go on sale in Japan on Nov 1, and will be available to European and American gamers in spring 2009.

The DSi has two 0.3-megapixel cameras, and a slightly larger screen than its predecessor, along with a thinner form factor. It will feature a memory card slot, so that gamers can play music saved on a SD card through the device. However, Nintendo has removed the GameBoy Advance cartridge slot on the DSi that made previous versions of the DS backwards-compatible with GameBoy games.

Nintendo said it had sold more than 77.5 million DS consoles worldwide since the device first went on sale in 2004. The DSi will cost YEN18,900 (under $180 this week) when it goes on sale.

Nintendo’s decision to release an updated version of the DS is seen in part as a response to the threat posed by Apple, whose iPhone and iPod touch music players feature motion-sensing technology and can also be used to play computer games on the go.The machine has been a big hit with people of all ages and backgrounds, Iwata said, adding that 54 percent of Nintendo DS users were women.

If I still was a road warrior, I guess I would consider getting something like this. To my mind, Nintendo does the best job around of hitting the right price points with the right amount of tech.

With the upgrades in the DSi – and newest features in the iPhone and iPod Touch – looks like competition between Nintendo and Apple is ready to get down and dirty.

Nintendo is no stranger to updating its hardware in order to drum up new enthusiasm and sales, even if it simply means adding a new color and pack-in game and calling the bundle a limited edition. Updates of note—those that add functionality or change the design of a system—are much more rare. If a report in Japan’s business daily Nikkei is correct, we’re going to see one such update of the Nintendo DS before the end of the year, with some significant new features.

While there are no images of the updated system, the details are pretty significant: the system will now come with a camera, the ability to play music, feature a larger screen, and include an improved antenna for wireless communications. It’s also reported that the system will be able to share data with the Nintendo Wii via SD cards, leading us to believe the system may have an SD slot built-in. Given Nintendo’s feelings on piracy, however, that seems somewhat unlikely.

There are no pictures of this new device, and while the source is a solid one, this should still be treated as rumor or speculation until we have some more solid information. Nintendo won’t make that easy, as the company won’t confirm or deny the report. “We are always developing new products,” the company commented. “However, since nothing has been announced officially, we are unable to comment at this time.”

Now, that’s a non-denial denial worthy of Richard Nixon.